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Tokenism and the Price of Having Your Own Opinions

So…I should preface this by establishing that, while this piece is in response to the recent story of Lomi Taryn being ostracized by her base and employer, it is, in NO way, being written in support or defense of Toe-Me Laryngitis. Yes, she was wronged, but my sympathy is reserved for the people who don’t use a platform to sustain white supremacist politics. Not to mention, she’s a mediocre white woman and liberals have been itching to make space for her for months, now. Even if she’s ultimately let go, she’ll be handed another paid opportunity by the end of the week (likely from some liberal and/or white feminist platform).

With that out of that way…

I wanna start by telling a little story from my time living in Central Texas. See, in a past life, I had a dark period where I once dabbled in conservatism—now, keep in mind that it was a reaction to being a former democrat…and again, I was living in Central Texas. I had several white conservatives around me, and they often LIVED for hearing what I had to say. Some were practically ready to throw me a parade when I would go in on Obama.

But one of my “favorite” instances, in particular, was one of these conservative WhiteGayze™ I’d come across in Houston, who’d taken an immediate liking (read: fetish) to me.

He’d added me on Facebook based on one of my rants on Obama and/or democrats and was enamored with me. Of course, he had a huge fetish for Black men…and of course, he had a white husband (during this dark period, I used to think fetishization was flattering…feel free to judge me all you want). Things were sweet for a week, or so…he was showering me praise for “having my own opinions” and “thinking for myself”…and peppered into those conversations were some very explicit scenarios that were being painted for my next trip to Houston. Granted, there was no explicit race play involved (even in my most “sunken” state, I didn’t play that shit), but for the sake of your lunch, I’ll spare every detail.

Things all changed when he made this post, expressing frustration with Black folks that he deemed “uneducated” and “ghetto”…essentially chastizing the Black folks he didn’t deem respectable for “not having their shit together.” Part of me feels like he posted that, expecting me to swoop in and affirm his racism. However, when I chimed in, expressing that I didn’t believe it was all their own doing, that there were systemic issues at play, World War 3 ensued. We debated, back and forth, for what had to be at least an hour. And it ultimately resulted in him deciding that he no longer had any interest in me. All that previous praise around me “thinking for myself” suddenly evaporated the moment I said something that didn’t feed his bigotry. He couldn’t handle the fact that his new, sexy Black token wasn’t affirming every bit of his white supremacy. At that point, I failed to serve my purpose.

So, that little fling was (thankfully) over before it could ever begin.

And this was a common experience with people around me. They were practically ready to throw me a parade as long as I was validating their point of view and doing nothing to hold them accountable. But as soon as I even hinted that Black people might collectively be where we are, at least partially because of systemic racism and not 100% from our own decisions and actions? HA! Again…World War 3. I mentioned earlier that, during my time in Texas, I made associations and/or “friendships” with several conservatives…you could probably guess but, basically every one of those connections have since disappeared during my time in Chicago. Thanks, Drumpf!

I say all of that to lay out how tokenism actually works within a white supremacist framework. For an oppressor, lauding the oppressed for “thinking for yourself” is only extended so far as your “thoughts” are 100% applicable to their agenda of having their supremacy uplifted, at all times. See, the one thing that bigots do the most—next to, y’know, being bigots—is doing mental gymnastics in their heads to convince themselves that they’re not evil, oppressive people. The entire utility of tokens like Tonya Larynx (or, an increasing number of hetero Black men), is to give the oppressor a shortcut to make themselves feel vindicated in their bigotry. The second you deviate from the script, in any way, the entirety of your usefulness is brought into question. When a token that they felt could affirm their supremacy defects (even a little bit), it forces them to potentially acknowledge that their entire POV is rooted in bigotry…the mental gymnastics that they already have to do suddenly become that much harder without the minority backing their play…hence the need to degrade and attack. There’s no room for “agreeing the disagree” when your entire purpose, as far as the oppressor is concerned, was to make them feel comfortable and solid in their bullshit.

This is why the response to Toe-Kneed, off of her deviating in just one area (which happened to mildly affirm her existence as a woman) was so swift and visceral. She wasn’t being given her platform as a human being with the autonomy to think for herself. She was given her platform as a conventionally attractive woman, who could be used as a tool to lend “credibility” to an oppressive system that only serves to truly benefit wealthy, cisgender, heterosexual, white men. Similarly to how the extent of my humanity to “Daddy Duke” in Houston was in how my Blackness could be used to prop up his supremacist existence (including sexual gratification, by the way), Tori LAWL-in’s humanity was limited to how a young, “conventionally hot” white woman could be used to prop up the existence of white supremacist patriarchy.

So…in a weird way, I can kinda relate to Toe-Jam….

(…just without the white privilege and a lucrative platform that was handed to me to spew toxicity).

But, like…just so we’re clear…fuck her.

Since ToeMe Laryngitis said she’s pro-choice, she’s been trashed by her base…and now suspended by her employer…